Writing Goals For The New Year

I find it much more productive to set writing goals at the beginning of the year (that are reviewed quarterly), rather than setting resolutions that fade away fast. I am in a very good place with that this year, as I am using an At-A-Glance daily planner, and each day has places to write down the first and last things done each day, the top three things to do each day, what needs to be done "right now", and what the "win" of the day was. This soothes my Cappie soul! 

When  I sit down to write our my yearly writing goals, the first thing I do is to try and make them realistic! I am still working full time, so I have to fit my writing around that. Any deadlines that I set out have to be functional. I break my goals down into smaller, achievable bites. I mean, what are the chances that I can sit down and develop character profiles for my entire book in one day? Or that I can edit my entire book in three days?

Develop some way of keeping track of where you are on your book. For me, the easiest way is by word count. I really don't care how many hours a day I write - just so that I am writing every day. I also don't care what time of day I write - I have the benefit of being able to write whenever I want to, day or night. My most productive time is usually in the oh dark thirty hours!

I push myself to define goals for each step of a writing project. The project itself must become just as important as the characters themselves. 

Stay positive, and strive to keep a work/life balance. Use insirational quotes to your advantage.

Some people may want to share their goals with a writing partner, with each partner holding the other partner accountable for achieving their goals (or understanding why they are not achieving their goals). This is not something that I would ever do, but many people find that it works for them.

Make sure that your goals are specific (or you will be wandering around in a writer's abyss forever!), that you have some way of quantifying/measuring them, and that you have a way of acting on them.

Happy writing for 2019!

(c) January 2019 Bonnie Cehovet

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